Hindustantimes Brunch 12 May 2013 by Hindustan Times

WEEKLY MAGAZINE, MAY 12, 2013 Free with your copy of Hindustan Times

ld of TV r o w w e n e v a r Hello, b on: o s g in m o C ! t n entertainme quality y h t r o w d o o w * BSoellt yseasons for shows * New stories (okay, remakes *f international shows) o OU on! Y n r u t n a c t a h Finally, TV t Anil Anil Kapoor Kapoor plays plays counter-terrorist counter terrorist agent Jai Singh Rathore in the Hindi adaptation of the international TV series, 24

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VIR SANGHVI

Cracking the egg clichĂŠ

SEEMA GOSWAMI

Power women in public life

RAJIV MAKHNI

The world of ugly technology

B R E A K FA S T O F C H A M P I O N S

Brunch Opinion

by Poonam Saxena

Caught in a bad TV programme

or someone who watches TV incessantly because it’s part of the job, I can say, without any hesitation, that Hindi entertainment channels can often be injurious to your health. You may (a) have a seizure (b) go into a decline and have to be revived with Bill Bryson’s Notes From A Big Country, the funniest book, ever, by an inveterate grumbler (c) have some other major allergic reaction (like wanting to retire to a no-TV planet, preferably somewhere deep in outer space). Really, what else can happen when you see the lead actress of a serial caressing a laptop for over 10 minutes in a 23-minute episode? That’s Sandhya in a serial called Diya Aur Bati. (Why, you ask? Because she’s so happy to see a laptop? Because this way the producers managed to fill up 10 minutes of airtime? Because... who knows?) Or what do you do when you see the heroine of another show recoil everytime she sees a ‘brown’ person? That’s in a show called Dil Ki Nazar Se Khoobsurat. (I just hope she never runs into me, very definitely a ‘brown’ person.) Then there was this instance when...

On The Brunch Radar

Celebrating 100 years of Indian cinema ■ Chetan Bhagat’s “pornographic language” ■ Kindle Paperwhite ■ Homemade iced tea ■ Tagging people on Instagram

by Saudamini Jain

■

Quizzle

Monet is the rightful king of Impressionism. His 1872 painting Impression, Sunrise led to the rise of the Impressionist art movement, then a derogatory term, a rebellion taking shape. His Water Lilies, a series of nearly 250 paintings made over the last 30 years of his life, were executed at his home in Giverny, France. He worked in a controlled landscape – his own garden with a pond, water lilies and a bridge – for a nearperfect view but lost that very control on the canvas. Of all the Nymphéas, the crowning works are displayed at Absinthe, the green fairy, was a friend of van Gogh, steering him through exaggerated visions. The bi-polar artist was nicknamed fou roux or mad redhead; in a bout of frenzy, he cut his ear and presented it to a girl named Rachel at a brothel. A few months later (a year before his death), in 1889, he painted The Starry Night while at an asylum

What’s in the naam!

Photos: THINKSTOCK

Picasso was 26 when he shocked his peers with private viewings of Les Demoiselles d’Avignon in 1907. It portrays five nude female figures from a brothel in Barcelona. The faces are contorted and bold with primitive elements of African and Iberian masks, their bodies made of crass lines and squares.

@TheGoodJew is DP82. He’s not Jewish. We don’t know how ‘good’ he is. But say good jew very fast, goodju, gujju! @TheGroovebox is Amit Gurbaxani. Gurbax sounds like Groovebox. Plus box is buxa in colloquial Hindi. @joshilay is Suresh Joshi.

MAY 12, 2013

in Saint-Remy, France. In the foreground, a cemetery and cypress trees symbolise his obsession with death. Fervent strokes represent the movement of wind and light. He sold but one painting in his lifetime. Today, they sell for obscene amounts. This one is on display at the Museum of Modern Art, New York

Les Demoiselles d’Avignon – Pablo Picasso

@yooday Oh, yoo know the answer. It lies within yoo. @Su4ita Focus on the number. Say it out loud in Hindi. @shallwe Why would someone call themselves ‘shall we’ (rather suggestive, no?) unless… @upper_na She puns on her name’s transliteration. @Don’t_rushme_ This is too obvious for a hint! @TheGoodJew This is not his name but part of his identity. He comes from the dry, dry state. @TheGroovebox Sindhi-fy groovebox and you’ll get his last name. No, you won’t. This one’s a toughie. @joshilay You already know his last name.

EDITORIAL: Poonam Saxena (Editor), Aasheesh Sharma, Rachel Lopez, Tavishi Paitandy Rastogi, Mignonne Dsouza, Veenu Singh, Parul Khanna, Yashica Dutt, Amrah Ashraf, Saudamini Jain, Shreya Sethuraman, Manit Moorjani

the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris. They are housed in oval rooms and are done on concave canvas panels, 6.5 feet in height and vary from 19.5 to 55 feet in length.

The Starry Night – Vincent van Gogh

We made up a simple quiz. We found eight tweeple who have made their very regular Indian names sound so much cooler on their Twitter handles. There’s a hint for each, come now, figure ’em out.

Cover design: Monica Gupta; Cover images: (From left to right) Sandhya (Diya aur Baati Hum), Ichha (Uttaran) and Archana (Pavitra Rishta); Anil Kapoor’s picture: Christopher Medak

the painting tucked under his coat). Picasso was questioned in the proceedings. The painting was returned after almost two years. More recently a visitor threw a cup at the priceless painting. Is it because she’s not very pretty but we love her anyway? Is she really a man? Suit your fancy. It’s the Mona Lisa.

Les Nymphéas or Water Lilies series – Claude Monet

by Amrah Ashraf

Yoo is U @su4ita is Sucharita Tyagi. Su-four-ita, Su-char-ita. Get it? @shallwe is Shalvi Mangaokar. @upper_na is Aparana Jayakumar. @Don’t_rushme_ is Rashmi.

A quick lesson in art, chapter 1 Mona Lisa – Leonardo da Vinci

SHOVE IT

TADAA...: @Yooday is Uday Bhatia.

by Amisha Chowbey

The Mona Lisa is a diva. Every year, nearly six million people drop in to visit the 15th century beauty, painted on a plain poplar panel. The Mona Lisa has been a faithful roomie to Napoleon, survived incorrect restoration procedures and over-cleaning (which is probably what left her without eyebrows) and was stolen in 1911 by an employee of the Louvre, Paris (he walked out with

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West ■ Those who consider being called a “feminist” an insult ■ Artificial flowers ■ Social media bullies ■ Leaking taps ■

Shortcut to Smart

You’ve seen photos of them, you’ve seen them spoofed on the Web. Maybe you’ve even seen them in real life. But what do you know about them, really? What makes these five, some of the most important paintings of all time? A sketchy introduction. Take notes

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DESIGN: Ashutosh Sapru (National Editor, Design), Monica Gupta, Swati Chakrabarti, Payal Dighe Karkhanis, Rakesh Kumar, Ashish Singh

The almost life-size figures confront the viewer, shocking them and then making them a part of the painting. This was one of the first steps towards Cubism. It has been a fixture at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, since 1939. The painting claimed its worth by driving Picasso’s friend and rival Henri Matisse barking mad, dethroning him as the obvious next big shot in shocking Modern Art.

No.5, 1948 – Jackson Pollock The other famous No. 5, it sold for a whopping $140 million at a private auction in 2006 to a billionaire art collector willing to pay anything for it, making it one of the most expensive paintings ever sold. Pollock was going about his day, smoking a cigarette and painting some figures, when he accidentally spilled some paint on the canvas. The abstract expressionist upgraded to Batman status inventing the drip technique. Drop us a line at:

brunchletters@ hindustantimes.com or to 18-20 Kasturba Gandhi Marg, New Delhi 110001

Time magazine, in 1956, called him Jack the Dripper. Laying the canvas on the ground, moving on all four side and splashing paint on the canvas, he monitored his actions with precision, creating figures out of dripping of paint, layer after layer. Spike the passion and rebellious need to create, a little bit of alcoholism with a sensational personal life. This is the stuff that art is made of!

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C OV E R STO RY

OUT OF THE BOX EXPERIENCE! Hindi TV entertainment is going to see sweeping changes over the next few years by Poonam Saxena

T’S 10PM on a sultry Mumbai night. But Floor One in Film City – where TV show 24 is being shot – has just woken up to a gruelling 12hour shift. The cavernous hall is dark, lit only by the flashing lights needed for the close-ups of Anil Kapoor in a jeep (he’s supposed to be speeding down Mumbai’s streets, on his way to avert a life-or-death situation). Kapoor plays Jai Singh Rathore, a tough counter-terrorist agent based on Jack Bauer, the hero of the American TV series of the same name. The Indian adaptation for Colors follows the original in that each episode compresses 24 hours in Bauer’s life as he races against the clock to thwart terrorist plots. “I don’t want to sound arrogant or anything, but I think this will be a game-changer,” says Kapoor, as he takes a break from the shooting. “The intent is to raise the bar on TV.” For countless viewers of Hindi general entertainment channels (GECs), wilting under the relentless onslaught of saasbahu-shaadi-parivaar shows for over 10 years now, this declaration couldn’t have come a day sooner. In fact, it’s probably about the right time. GECs are on the brink of a revolu-

140 million

Cable and satellite households in India at present

tion that is going to explode in the next few years. Like many revolutions, this one too has crept along silently, propelled by the irreversible forces of changing technology, changing audience tastes and sheer fatigue with the cookie-cutter content that viewers are being force fed.

people ‘who don’t have time to watch TV.’ In other words, there will come a day – and quite soon, not in some far-off science fiction future – when appointment viewing (sitting in front of your TV at 8pm to watch an 8pm show) will seem like something out of the Stone Age. Many GECs realise that not all REAL TIME? NO! their viewers are faithfully lining up Today, many TV consumers (and not at fixed time slots, abandoning their just your high-end work/social lives at the metro dwellers) are altar of the latest watching shows in difViewers don’t gharelu serial/reality ferent, non-traditional show. So they’re showhave time to ways: on the Net, on ing their programmes watch television on their websites or their mobile phone screens, on tablets, or their YouTube chanshows in real through recording nels, allowing viewers time. They’d devices that DTH operto catch them when rather watch ators such as Tata Sky they want to. Sony, for them online and Dish TV provide. instance, has just “In our research we launched an app, Sony constantly heard one Liv, through which subthing – no one has time to watch TV scribers can watch current shows – shows in real time,” says Vikram and old favourites like Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin – on their phones or online. Mehra, chief commercial officer, Tata Says Nitesh Kriplani, senior vice Sky. “By the time most people reach president of business development home and have dinner, it’s too late to and digital/syndication, new media, watch a lot of TV shows. They want Sony, “This enables us to get direct to see shows at a time that’s convenfeedback from consumers instantly.” ient to them, not according to the TV schedule.” DO RATINGS MATTER? That’s why Tata Sky has just But at the moment, this kind of launched an elaborate three-and-anon-traditional viewing does not half minute commercial targeted at

59 million

Digital TV households. This segment grew at the rate of 40% over the last year MAY 12, 2013

9,602

TAM people meters measure TV viewership Photo: THINKSTOCK

get reflected in television ratings put out weekly by TAM, currently the only media research agency which measures TV audience viewing in India. That’s because TAM ratings are based on devices called people meters, attached to TV sets in select households, which automatically record viewing activity – but only in real time. However, that is about to change. LV Krishnan, CEO, TAM Media Research, says that they are testing technology which will measure the new ways of watching TV as well. To track shows that are recorded and watched later, a ‘watermark’ technology will be used (where every signal that is stored is watermarked and can be seen when it’s finally played on the recorder). Similarly, computers, tablets and mobiles will have ‘virtual meters’ – basically software that will keep track of whatever the consumer is watching. “We’re keeping the watermark technology ready. The software for computer screens is undergoing tests in the UK, while the one for mobiles and

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GAME CHANGERS

Hindi TV entertainment is not going to transform overnight. But there is reason to believe that serials and shows will change – for the better – over the next few years. Four reasons actually...

#1 Bollywood Enters The Picture

Most TV production houses are stuck in a rut. All serials – with some exceptions – look and sound identical: the same flat, bright lighting, garish sets with living rooms the size of football fields, the same puja-shaadi-tyohaar rituals. The entry of big Bollywood producers and directors, used to su-

tablets will soon go into field trials in India,” says Krishnan. In America, it is AC Nielsen that tabulates ratings. There too, people meters are the technology of choice, but in 2007, Nielsen finally introduced a ratings system which included people who saw a show upto three days after its original airing.

WHAT ABOUT THE BUZZ?

But apart from different platforms, there is also what Sneha Rajani, senior executive vice president and business head, Sony, calls ‘surround sound,’ that is, the buzz around a TV show in the media, on Twitter, Facebook, blogs or anywhere else on the Net. Says Rajani, “Our show Bade Achche Lagte Hain always trends every couple of months on Twitter. But it’s not even in the top 10 shows.” You could argue that online buzz doesn’t count for much and you’d be right – and wrong. While it’s unlikely that a 55-year-old housewife from, say, Barabanki, is going to follow tweets about her favourite show, it doesn’t mean that ‘buzz’ is irrelevant. Social media chatter reinforces viewer engagement with the channel/show and gives both a hefty boost. Raj Nayak, the ebullient CEO of Colors, says, “We make losses on Bigg Boss, even though it gets good ratings. But we retain the show because it is a huge talking point and the buzz that it generates keeps us

715

More TAM people meters to be added by the end of 2013 Source: TAM MEDIA RESEARCH

going for a whole year and brings in audiences to our channel.

WATCHED = LIKED?

The bizarre truth is that, very often, the shows that are apparently the ‘most watched’ (according to the ratings) are not necessarily the ‘most liked.’ Says Pushpa Sinha, a 60-something housewife in Delhi, “I get so irritated with the serials I watch – they drag incessantly, the story goes all over the place. It’s very annoying.” But ask her why she still continues to watch and she says helplessly, “What else do I watch? They’re all the same.” It’s a grim reflection on the content that GECs put out if regular viewers like Sinha – and she’s not a lone example by any means – watch shows in the manner of frustrated addicts, and not because they love what they’re watching.

BIG STARS, SMALL SCREEN

Anil Kapoor and Anupam Kher star in the TV show, 24, to be aired this year

perior production values and storytelling, can alter this sameness dramatically. Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Saraswatichandra (Star Plus) has been the first to get off the ground. Though the serial, based on a turnof-the-century Gujarati novel by Govardhanram Madhavaram Tripathi has been unfortunately modernised, getting someone like Bhansali, with his operatic sensibilities, to the small screen, was a coup. Star Plus will now rope in more Bollywood names to create shows for them. 24 (Colors) not only stars Anil Kapoor, it is directed by Abhinay Deo (of Delhi Belly fame) and written by Rensil D’Silva (of Rang De Basanti fame). Can it get bigger? Later this year Sony too will announce a major new show helmed by an influential Bollywood name.

#2 So Do Foreign Fiction Formats Ever since Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) hit our screens in 2000, TV channels have been scrambling over themselves to buy the rights for foreign non-fiction shows, whether it’s Bigg Boss (based on Big Brother), Indian Idol (based on Pop Idol), Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa (Strictly Come Dancing), or the desi versions of Survivor, MasterChef etc. Now, after Anil Kapoor decided to officially remake the Fox TV series 24 , there’s reportedly a rush to acquire foreign fiction shows which can lend themselves well to Indian adaptations. The Good Wife, a CBS

show about a stayat-home mother who returns to the workforce to look after her family after her husband is jailed, is apparently next on the list. In the hunt for fresh ideas for stories, GECs seem to have realised that there are hundreds of international shows out there that they can remake. Bye bye saas-bahus?

What The Advertisers Think

hange may be on its way, but since it’s not there right now, advertisers still swear by ratings. Top-rated programmes, led by those on GECs, draw the largest chunk of TV advertising funds. Ruchika Batra, spokesperson for Samsung India, which advertises heavily across platforms, says, “Content and target audience are important. But a low-rated programme would not be considered for advertising.” Agrees Navin Khemka, managing partner, Zenith OptiMedia, a media agency: “GECs are led by ratings.” But the emerging trend of people

watching shows online will be ignored if a media plan depends so strongly on ratings. But Batra says that “the percentage of ad funds allocation has been going up significantly online.” As long as access to content online continues to be expensive, ratings will remain a significant measure. “Once access becomes cheaper, digital viewership ratings will matter,” says Khemka. In the news space too, ratings are important, especially for Hindi news channels. With English news channels, which have more niche viewership, the content and viewership MAY 12, 2013

profiles are strong considerations. Here’s how important ratings are to TV news. Recently, NDTV took TV rating agency TAM to the international courts for apparently deliberately displaying lower ratings for its news channels. The concerned court disregarded NDTV’s complaint. But Batra does say that if a channel gets high ratings but is not high on news credibility, “we would not advertise with them.” – Anita Sharan

C OV E R STO RY

Most GECs put the blame squarely on the ratings system, since the entire industry goes by TAM ratings. Says Sneha Rajani wryly, “We make programmes for TAM.” And according to TAM ratings, it is the typical saas-bahu-shaadi-parivar shows that do the best. The top rated show at the moment is Diya Aur Bati, where the saas is a backward harridan and the bahu a self-righteous Miss Goody Two shoes.

CAN WE BREAK FREE?

But no ratings system will ever be perfect. And blaming ratings for the assembly-line content currently on air is only part of the story. Indeed, Krishnan is quite outraged at the idea. “You can’t blame a research system for your content,” he says. “If channels don’t believe in TAM, they can do their own research. The truth is that channels need to get out of their sluggishness and laziness and give better content to viewers.” And most GEC executives do admit that the crisis in content is at least partially because they play safe,

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don’t take risks, and choose the path of least resistance. Says Anil Kapoor, who is producing the Indian version of 24, “If you don’t do something that scares you, that gives you sleepless nights, what’s the point?” Well, the GECs are finally beginning to get the point. They’re starting to realise that the TV audience is not a monolithic mass anymore, even if TV is a mass medium. The TV audience, like the cinema audience, is getting fragmented. There is the big traditional mass audience, but there is also a more modern new audience, looking beyond run-of-the-mill content. Krishnan believes that in the years to come, the latter will grow faster than the former. Also, there is no reason why a TV show can’t straddle both audiences. Films have managed it. Why can’t TV? So when 24 producer and lead actor Anil Kapoor gets behind the SUV wheel on a hot Mumbai night, he might well be racing to tackle another kind of problem – the crisis of content in the TV world. poonamsaxena@hindustantimes.com

Here too Saraswatichandra showed the way. Indian regional literature is bursting at the seams with great stories waiting to be told. (We believe Star Plus is soon going to make a cracker of a Hindi novel into a serial. Also, Star has recently appointed a former book publisher in a key creative position – an interesting development).

Television fandom, a powerful force internationally, is now flexing its muscles in India too by Yashica Dutt

Abroad, firstrate TV shows have been made based on books, whether it is a classic such as Pride And Prejudice or the current fantasy epic, Game of Thrones, based on the book series by George R R Martin. GECs can mine novels from every literary tradition in India.

#4 The Arrival (Finally) Of Seasons

Colors has already got into the act with Season 2 of Na Bole Tum Na Maine Kuch Kaha, a show about the relationship between a young widow with two children and a maverick journalist. But it is 24 which will be the first real seasonbased show. All of season 1 is being shot at one go before the show is telecast later this year. Says Raj Nayak, CEO, Colors, “I’m a firm believer that seasons are the only way to go forward. We can’t work in our current system indefinitely.” Seasons can free channels from the tyranny of meandering daily soaps and help them introduce tighter scripts and storylines. LOVE FOR ALL SEASONS

The lead pair of Na Bole Tum Na Maine Kuch Kaha

The Fans Are On(line)

MAY 12, 2013

#3 Back To The Books

OW BIG a TV show fan are you? If you aren’t fervently re-writing last night’s episode of your favourite show on a fan site, painstakingly making video mixes of your favourite scenes or tweeting the recap, you’re not really a certified fan. That’s FANDOM, in all caps and it’s now available in India at a computer near you.

Photo: IMAGESBAZAAR

back the show more than five years after it was cancelled in 2006. And the force is now with us in India.

SUDDEN IMPACT

Thus far, TV has functioned on the seemingly whimsical decisions of channel executives who pulled shows off air, cancelled a series midway or replaced lead characters based on the day’s weather (they called it folFROM GLOBAL TO LOCAL lowing the ratings). And audiences Internationally, legions of fans are simply moved on to the next fix. But nothing new to the World Wide Web. since the Internet got involved, it’s Fans of Supernatural (an edgy drama turned complicated. When Star One with two brothers hunting demons (what is now Life OK) cancelled a and monsters) charted the life histopopular romantic TV show, Geet... ry of the yet-unborn child of the lead Hui Sabse Parayi, in December 2011, actor, Jensen Ackles, within an hour they probably expected it to go down of the official announcement. as another routine cancellation. On Tumblr, fans are What they didn’t constantly figuring out expect was the online the historical referamong thouWhen Star One uproar ences in episodes of sands of fans, demandcancelled the TV ing a second season. Mad Men, the cult television show based on show, Geet... Hui Though the second the US advertising season never materiSabse Parayi, industry in the 1960s. alised, it did give the they couldn’t Fans of Community channels a taste of have anticipated what passionate view(a critically acclaimed comedy series about a the online uproar ers were capable of. group of students This fandom assertattending community ed itself once again college) kept the show on air for four when the male lead of yet another years despite low ratings. The fan folpopular romantic show – Iss Pyaar Ko lowing of Arrested Development – listKya Naam Doon? (IPKKND) on Star ed among the 100 Best TV Shows Of Plus – wanted to quit and there was All Time by Time magazine – brought talk of replacing him. But devoted

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fans couldn’t bear to see anyone but Barun Sobti play the role of the arrogant tycoon Arnav Singh Raizada. So they went into overdrive, wrote letters and made phone calls to the channel, spammed the Twitter profiles of every media outlet and flooded the Facebook pages of the channel. Result? The production house was forced to cancel the show altogether – probably a first for Indian TV. With the final episode, aired on November 30, 2012, IPKKND became an example of Indian fan power. Even today Sobti continues to remain the most popular television celebrity according to the popular TV site India Forums – where many Indian TV fans wallow in their collective excitement or passionate criticism.

AS SEASONS CHANGE

Fans, having tasted blood, again came together when Colors decided to nix a show called Na Bole Tum Na Maine Kuch Kaha in October 2012. Rinse, repeat. The show had to be brought back on air for another season from January 2013. “We got Na Bole Tum back on air only because of the intense fan pressure,” says Prashant Bhatt, weekday programming head for Colors. “We seriously consider what the audience wants to see and now we can get their feedback from the Internet almost instantly. We even execute changes based on what people ask us; sometimes changing storylines too.” He describes how, with their show Madhubala, the lead characters Madhubala and RK were supposed

WHO IS A REAL FAN? R

iding the frenzied wave of TV fandom calls for fingertips of steel and a tensile relationship with the space-time continuum. Anu Sharma (name changed on request), a stay-at-home 40-something mother of two college kids, is an active member of the legion of fans of Parichay (a Colors show which generated intense online upheaval since it was taken off air).

She used to spend around 4-5 hours creating cigis (fan lingo for a collage of actors’ pictures), discussing the show and chatting with fellow fandom members on sites like India Forums, MyeDuniya, and the Facebook fan page (when the show was on air). “We feel jobless now that the show has ended,” she says. “Right now we mostly plan tweet-athons to get the show back on air.”

BREAK THE WEB, IF WE HAVE TO

However, this time it doesn’t seem that fans will get what they want. “Parichay is not coming back on air. We pulled it off because the story had reached its natural end,” says Colors’ Prashant Bhatt.

The cancellation of the show Parichay has generated massive online protests

Devotion operates in tangled subsets in the case of the popular TV show, Devon ke Dev... Mahadev (Life OK). Three girls – Tulika Dubey from Pune, Shruti Trivedi from Mumbai and Anjali Singh from Nottingham, UK – who run the Mohit Raina Fan Club (the actor who plays Lord Shiva) on Twitter and a blog on WordMAY 12, 2013

to marry much But much before all these camlater in the narrapaigns around fiction shows, there tive. “But due to was an intense and eventually sucfan pressure, we cessful social media campaign (called got them married ‘Bring BQC Back’) to bring in the fifth week Bournvita Quiz Contest, a popular instead of the 16th Zee quiz show of the ’90s, back on air week as we had planned,” after it was cancelled in 2006. After he says. several videos, online and physical It’s interesting that the posters, fan pages, hundreds of blogs most active and vehement and support from celebrity tweeters viewer responses revolve like Gul Panag and show’s quizmasaround ter, Derek O’ Brien, the romantic show was eventually shows, often brought back on Most major with an anti-hero. in 2011. fandoms revolve Colors Saas-bahu shows are Harshil Karia, online around romantic strategist for conspicuous by their absence. Samir Soni, shows. Saas-bahu Foxymoron, the digital the lead actor for agency which helped shows are Parichay (a Colors create the campaign, conspicuous by says show that was recently the involvement their absence taken off air, evoking of fans can’t be ignored angry reactions from any longer. “They are fans), says that the following their remote control is being passed from favourite characters closely enough the grandmother to the mother and to demand meatier scenes for them,” will soon come to the daughter. “It’s he says. “They even criticise their young people who will begin to dicfavourite show if it goes awry.” tate what shows on TV,” he says. “That’s why anti-hero shows have a MAKING THE CONNECTION following online. The young are restJust when did people start huddling less and given the state of the society in unknown corners of the Web to relate more to the anti-hero than a discuss what the lead character of typical hero.” their favourite show should do next? The official page of India Forums says it was around 2004 with Sony’s Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin, one of the earliest shows to be discussed on the site’s message boards. But fandom as we know it has emerged only in the past two years, creeping on the walls and hooking on the handles of social media. Vivek Srivastava, digital media head of Colors TV, points out that with approximately 65 million Facebook users and 25 million Twitter MAHADEV OF THE THE INTERNET consumers today, social media has The Mohit Raina fan club, dedicated to helped likeminded TV geeks find the actor playing Lord Shiv, is very active company. “Facebook in India has press by the same name say it’s the grown by about 50 per cent in the many layers and stories on the past two years alone. And it includes show that compelled them to come the demographic from small-town online for discussions. India.” So yes, Indian TV fandom is here – to stay. “I was never much of a TV person, but the way mythology is depicted in this show struck me as different,” says Dubey. “So we started the blog about a year ago, and it already has around 2,000 active members from all over the world.” They discuss topics which revolve around mythology. And while they like Raina’s portrayal of Shiva, they also criticise what they don’t like.

yashica.dutt@hindustantimes.com

THERE’S LOTS MORE ON THE WEB The real fandom is online and that’s where you should be, if you want to read the whole story plus an exclusive interview of Parichay lead actor, Samir Soni. Discover more fandom on hindustantimes. com/brunch

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ICTURE ERFECT

When it comes to projecting a public ‘image’ women tend to be more successful than men

CROWNING GLORY

Indira Gandhi made the streak of white in a shock of curly black hair famous MORE ON THE WEB

For more SPECTATOR columns by Seema Goswami, log on to hindustantimes.com/ brunch. Follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/ seemagoswami. Write to her at seema_ ht@rediffmail.com

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Seema Goswami

STRINGED TO STYLE

The little black dress accessorised with layers of pearls was turned into a style statement by Coco Chanel

HEN YOU hear the words ‘iconic image’ what is the first picture that flashes before your mind’s eye? Is it the streak of white in a shock of curly black hair that Indira Gandhi made famous? Is it the pussycat bow and structured handbag that was such an integral part of Margaret Thatcher’s persona? Is it the little black dress accessorised with layers of pearls that Coco Chanel turned into a style statement that survives to this day? It is not a coincidence that all of the examples cited are of women. You could say that this is because we pay more attention to how women dress and present themselves, whereas the style choices of men are not subject to the same scrutiny. And you could well be right. But, if you ask me, I think this goes much further. Women who are in public life are much more aware of the image they present to the world (perhaps because they know they are being judged by it) than their male counterparts. They are more inclined and better equipped to make a statement with the way they look. And they are fully conscious of the power that such iconography carries. Indira Gandhi’s imperious wave of white hair; those impeccably-draped saris; the rudraksh mala: it was the perfect image for a strong leader of a country that was universally perceived as being weak in that era. But such was the force of her personality when she looked down her aristocratic nose, that even such world leaders as President Nixon and Henry Kissinger were left feeling like THE BAG STORY

Benazir Bhutto took care to drape herself in the colours of the Pakistani flag to reclaim her political legacy

Margaret Thatcher’s famous handbag even spawned a new term: ‘handbagging’, for the way Thatcher swept aside all opposition

errant schoolboys. On the other hand, Margaret Thatcher – perceived as a bit of a martinet by most people – had to soften her look to appear more sympathetic. So in came the pussycat bow, while the helmet-like hair was changed to a subtle, layered style. Her string of pearls served both as a nod to her femininity and a subtle counterpoint to the power suits she wore like a uniform. And then there was the famous handbag, which seemed surgically attached to her hand, and even spawned a new term: ‘handbagging’, for the way Thatcher swept aside all opposition. Yes, women know the power of appearances when they are striving to make a political point. Think of Benazir Bhutto, the trouser-wearing, trendy daughter of Z A Bhutto, in her younger, more Westernised avatar. When it came to reclaiming her political legacy though, she took care to drape herself in the colours of the Pakistani flag. Her green salwar-kameez paired with a white dupatta draped over her head conveyed a message about her dedication to the twin values of patriotism and peace; a message that was all the more powerful for being non-verbal. It’s not an accident that some women evoke a certain image in our minds. Think Queen Elizabeth II and an image of a slightly matronly figure in twin-sets in block colours, accessorised with matching hats and gloves, will pop into your mind. Think Coco Chanel and you will immediately picture a little black dress topped off with endless layers of pearls. Think Michelle Obama, and a pair of uber-toned biceps will pop up in your mind’s eye (no wonder her husband joked about her right to ‘bare arms’). Closer home, too, it is the ladies who have a stronger public image than the men. Sonia Gandhi in her perfectly-draped handlooms; Sushma Swaraj with her trademark mangalsutra and sindoor; Mayawati in her pink salwar-kameezes; Mamata Banerjee in her ‘woman of the peepuls’ crumpled cotton saris; and Meira Kumar whose sartorial style is as unruffled as her demeanour. Among the men, though, it is only Narendra Modi with his trademark half-sleeve kurtas, who comes close to having an ‘iconic’ image. And thereby hangs a tale…

spectator

indulge

Photo: THINKSTOCK

LET’S EGG FOR MORE

Why can’t Indian restaurants try and do something fresh and innovative with eggs at their Sunday brunches? TRY A NEW ONE!

God knows, there are enough egg dishes in the world for the chefs not to have to rely on the same tired old mushroom omelette or fried eggs sunny-side up formula

Photos: THINKSTOCK

Photo courtesy: EGG SUNDAY

Vir Sanghvi

WEDDED BLISS

No matter what you call it, an anda paratha or a baida roti, the combination of paratha/roti and egg is a marriage made in heaven

rude food

HAD BRUNCH in Madras a few Sundays ago at the brand new Westin. As you may have noticed, Madras is now the centre of India’s hotel industry: a new place seems to open every month. But I went to the Westin – a bright, cheery hotel with a young staff and a great vibe – because the general manager Shrikant Wakharkar has been a friend of mine for 20 years. Shrikant plans to open an Oriental restaurant soon, but for now the property has only one restaurant, a relaxed, sun-filled cafe-type all-day dining restaurant, which does a vast Sunday brunch with nearly every kind of food you can think of, from pizza to appams and stew to sushi to north Indian curries to Middle Eastern rice dishes to teppan-yaki ice cream. (They are big on ice cream at the Westin: the chef showed me a prototype for making instant ice cream on the table with liquid nitrogen, in the style of Ferran Adrià, Heston Blumenthal and the other molecularists.) Though the food was fine, we got to discussing possible innovations. In the West, a Sunday brunch is usually a bakwas meal at top restaurants, served on the head chef’s day off, when assorted kitchen minions make eggs to order, add a couple of basic dishes (minute steak, French toast, waffles etc.) and charge you a fixed price. Coffee and orange juice are always included in the rate. In the Far East, however, the Sunday brunch is a big deal: a sort of bigger and better version of the normal lunch buffet, with free champagne thrown in and lots of luxury ingredients (foie gras, caviar, lobster, oysters etc.) laid out on the tables. If you wake up hungry on Sundays, then a brunch can be the best deal you’ll get at any restaurant. In India, we’ve tended to follow the Far Eastern model largely because the foreign chains that brought the concept to our hotels used expatriate chefs who had worked in East Asia. The La Piazza

Sunday brunch at Delhi’s Hyatt Regency was the pioneer, but nearly every restaurant and hotel now offers some kind of variation on the theme. The one thing that remains constant at all brunches – whether in the West or the East – is the idea that Sunday brunch is, at heart, a delayed breakfast. In the Indian context that should mean that restaurants serve parathas, theplas, idlis, vadas, dosais and the like. And indeed, some places do offer Indian breakfast specialties, but the majority of restaurants stick with the global idea that as long as you have a live egg counter, with a chef churning out omelettes, fried eggs etc. you are sticking with the spirit of breakfast. Personally, I’m getting a little tired of brunches where the junior-most chef in the kitchen is sent into the restaurant to fry eggs because his top bosses are too high and mighty to make omelettes. Why can’t Indian restaurants try and do something fresh and innovative with eggs at their Sunday brunches? God knows, there are enough egg dishes in the world for the chefs not to have to rely on the same tired old mushroom omelette or fried eggs sunny-side up formula. Over brunch that Sunday, Shrikant and I sat down and made out a list of things we would like to see on Sunday brunch menus

APPAM WITH A TWIST

The Lankans fry an egg, sunny-side up on their appams and call them egghoppers (right). They can be delicious and are easy to find all over Sri Lanka MAY 12, 2013

Photo: CC/FLICKR

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EGG AKURI A LA CECILE 3 eggs 2 onions (chop) ■ 1 tbsp ghee ■ Salt to taste ■ 3 cloves garlic Grind for masala ■ ½ inch piece ginger ■ 2 tsp chopped coriander leaves ■ 1 green chilli ■ 1 tsp tamarind or a slice of green mango ■ 1 tsp cumin seeds ■ 1 tsp turmeric powder ■ ½ tsp dhania jeera powder

■

Photo: DINODIA

Photo: THINKSTOCK

■

MEATIER, JUICIER, TASTIER!

Nargisi Kofta is a little like a Scotch egg but instead of the sausage meat, you use delicious keema

TELL ME WHY?

Why in God’s name are our hotels still serving us disgusting pale, battery-chicken scrambled eggs on pheeka toast at their Sunday brunches?

– the kind of dishes that would make imaginative use of eggs. We decided that you could find enough good ideas within South Asia not to have to bother with elaborate soufflés or other European dishes. Here are some of the things we thought of. ■ Egg Roast and Appam: I’m sure they will hate me in Kerala for saying this but as much as I love appams, I loathe the boring white stew that is traditionally served with them. (And while we are on the subject, I’m not keen on idi-appams either. They taste like the sort of messed up noodle dish, an inexperienced cook in a bad Chinese restaurant in Ernakulam turned out by mistake… Okay Malayalis: you can shoot me now!) But the egg roast (the recipe for which has appeared on these pages some months ago) is one of the world’s great egg dishes. It is not difficult to make and it goes perfectly with appams. So why can’t we get egg roast and appams at Sunday brunches rather than boring ham-and-cheese omelettes? ■ Shrikant spent three years in Colombo at the Taj Samudra so he is familiar with Sri Lankan cuisine. The Lankan version of the appam is called a ‘hopper’, a name that apparently originates from an English mis-pronunciation of the world ‘appam’. (How can anyone, even a Brit, make appam sound like hopper? No idea. I find the story mystifying myself, but there it is…) The Lankans fry an egg, sunny-side up on their appams and call them egg-hoppers. They can be delicious and they are easy to find all over Sri Lanka. So why don’t we serve them here at our brunches? ■ No matter what you call it, an anda paratha or a baida roti, the combination of paratha/roti and egg is a marriage made in heaven. It is the secret of a satisfying Nizam’s Roll (or a kathi, if you want to call it that). Every second roadside vendor in parts of

Bombay turns out the most delicious baida roti. So, why in God’s name are our hotels still serving us disgusting pale, battery-chicken scrambled eggs on pheeka toast? Why can’t we get anda parathas or baida rotis at our brunches? ■ The only Parsi dish that most Indians have heard of is dhansak but no community uses eggs as imaginatively as the Parsis. They are so willing to fry an egg on top of anything (even bhindi) that I sometimes wonder if their ancestors escaped from Persia with all of that country’s chickens. One great thing about the Parsi love of eggs (Rusi Modi used to brag about his 14-egg omelettes) is that they all live to be a hundred or so. Remember that the next time a doctor tells you that eggs are bad for your heart. The other great thing is that they have at least two wonderful egg dishes that make perfect brunch specialties. The first is reasonably well-known in Bombay: their akuri, which is a classier version of the North Indian ande ki bhurji and tastes more delicious than any scrambled egg you will ever eat. (You can even buy an akuri powder in Bombay, or so I am told, which is the secret ingredient in many home-style akuris.) The other wonderful Parsi egg dish – and my personal favourite – consists of perfectly fried eggs on top of a bed of sautéed potatoes and onions. You’ll hardly ever see this on restaurant menus. But try it. I find it can be addictive. ■ We sometimes come across the Scotch egg, though the dish has generally fallen out of favour even in the West. In essence, this is a boiled egg encased in sausage meat, battered or breaded and then fried. I have too many unhappy memories of Scotch eggs from school to be nostalgic for them. But we have our own Indian equivalent, which is much tastier: the Nargisi Kofta. This is a little like a Scotch egg but instead of the sausage meat, you use delicious, delicately-spiced keema of the kind you would use for a kabab. Made properly, the dish adds a new dimension to the flavour of egg by surrounding it with moist, juicy keema. And yet, I don’t know of anybody who serves it for Sunday brunch at a restaurant in India. These are just some of the ideas Shrikant and I came up with over brunch that Sunday. I’m sure you can think of even more interesting things to do with eggs. Mail me your suggestions and I’ll do another column on the subject. After all, this magazine is called Brunch!

The egg roast is one of the world’s great egg dishes. It is not difficult to make and it goes perfectly with appams

Eggs On Potatoes And Onions 6 eggs 1 lb potatoes ■ 2 tbsp ghee ■ ½ lb onions (sliced thinly) ■ 2 green chillies (chopped) ■ ¾ tbsp salt ■ 1 tbsp chopped coriander leaves ■ ■

Cut potatoes into small cubes. Heat ghee and fry onions for 2 minutes. Add potatoes and cook both vegetables till almost done. Add salt, chillies and coriander leaves. Remove from fire and spread in a flat greased baking dish. Break 6 eggs on the potato mixture, sprinkle with salt, cover and keep on a low fire or in a slow oven till eggs are set. Serve hot.

Photo: THINKSTOCK

(Serves 6)

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LOO BEHOLD

Do you really want an iPod dock that dispenses toilet paper?

Rajiv Makhni

ON A FORK DIET

The HAPIfork is a tacky vibrating toy with a sensor that gives too much information food in your mouth, the timing between each mouthful, how long your meal took, what time you started and what time you finished. Plus, it can vibrate and let you know if you’re eating too fast. Sounds good? Actually, it’s quite horrible. It’s basically just a tacky little vibrating toy with a sensor and timer that gives way too much information about nothing and costs a whopping R7,000. And now they have a Hapi Spoon and Hapi Chopsticks too. The very thought makes me very UnHapi. Louis Vuitton Waffle Maker: If you can’t get enough of your LV monogram on your luggage, bag and wallet – then maybe embossing your waffles and muffins and sandwiches will help. Do I really need to describe the silliness of this any further? MP3 Rubik Cube: You take one of the greatest puzzle toys in the history of the world and then add a horrible little twist to it, literally. Shove an MP3 player into it. The worst part is that it doesn’t even function properly as a Rubik’s Cube and the acoustic capabilities of the MP3 player are a double whammy. You can’t help look at something like this and not ask ‘Why’? Puppy Tweets: Strap this onto your dog, set up a Twitter account and then watch him tweet out his thoughts all day. It has an internal accelerometer, a microphone and connects wirelessly to a USB dongle you attach to your computer. Now it waits for your dog to get into some action. Every bark, every movement and every move is interpreted with a tweet out. It has about 500 different tweets built in and they’ll start appearing on his Twitter account at a pretty fast pace. The problem, besides what I’ve already described, is that the device is huge and the tweets are super repetitive. Game Skunk: Time for you to smell the action. If you’re a gamer and want to smell napalm, gunfire, smoke and death – then this is the must-have for you. It hooks up to your computer and emits a smorgasbord of smells from a bank of over 30,000 different scents to enhance your gaming experience. Just be careful not to have this turned on when you enter the sewer in pursuit of the bad guys. Thumb Drive: We all call it a thumb drive, so why not just make it look like one? Well, the one reason I can give you not to do that is that this is just plain gross and looks like a prop from a Ramsay Brothers horror movie – sticking out of your computer. That takes care of the annual tech stinkers list. But this year, let’s turn this into an award event. You can think of the above as nominations. Let me know which one truly deserves to be crowned the world’s most stupid tech device. It’s a coveted title and one that you need to tweet in using the hashtag #techstinker

techilicious

E LIVE in a world full of new discoveries and innovations. New out-of-the-box ideas and fantastic groundbreaking devices are unleashed upon us almost every day. Unfortunately, this quest to come up with radical new products also gives birth to some truly horrible ideas. Here’s my annual list of grotesquely stupid tech. Wayki Toothbrush: A toothbrush that will wake you up? Actually it does more than that. One part of this ‘innovation’ sits next to your bed. The alarm goes off at the set time and the only way to shut it off is to run to the bathroom with it, snap on the toothbrush head and brush for two minutes. Then you have to remember to snap it off and take one part back to your bedroom. This device is wrong on so many levels, including the huge shock your body will go through daily as you try to to get it to shut off. Fortunately, the company hasn’t got funding to take this nightmare oral hygiene horror and sleep killer to the rest of the world. There is a God! Necomimi Brainwave Cat Ears: Just how far can you go to experience the wonders of technology? Well, these cat ears will push those limits far beyond what you can ever imagine. These little monstrosities can actually read your thoughts and can sense your brainwaves. Strap these onto your head – think relaxing thoughts and the ears droop; get stressed or focussed and they stand up all erect. And after you’ve used it as a party trick for 30 seconds, throw them away. iCarta Toilet Paper Dispensing iPod Dock: Super crap is a fitting description here, in more ways than one. It’s an iPod dock that can belt out tunes and dispense toilet paper at the same time. It has water-resistant speakers and various settings for music playback. The only real problem here would be to actually operate it, touch it and use the buttons before you use the toilet paper. I would also recommend that you set this to play ‘hard rock’ music on those days when you’re slightly constipated. Kenwood Radio Toaster: At first glance this makes sense. Why waste the space that the toaster takes up – use it to get some news and music while you wait for your toast to burn. But that’s when some sense kicks in. It looks absolutely ridiculous, the radio part won’t last too long with all that heat inside, I wouldn’t want to touch a hot surface while trying to tune into a different radio channel and a toaster with an antenna sticking out of it is just the perfect way of telling people that I’ve pretty much lost all my marbles. The HAPIfork: I was actually quite ‘happy’ when I saw this at CES. Here’s a fork that can tell you the number of times you put

The Necomimi Brainwave Cat Ears reads your thoughts

MAY 12, 2013

Rajiv Makhni is managing editor, Technology, NDTV, and the anchor of Gadget Guru, Cell Guru and Newsnet 3

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Dr ills in

FITNESS

Sp or ts

n i m

PART 1: Forget weight training in the gym. In this three-part series, young sportsmen show us how doing their exercises is enough to keep fit

It’s Time To Play Now

Tennis requires quick legs and explosive power in the arms, and here is Indian Davis Cup player Divij Sharan’s workout toned down for us by Manit Moorjani

HO SAYS you have to hit the gym to stay fit? Who says all exercises need complicated equipment and lots of time? The smartest way to a fit body is all about using your time and environment creatively. Just ask three of India’s rising sports stars. Strap on your trainers and listen up. We’ve got tips from the best on the field.

avis Cup player Divij Sharan begins his day with a warmup. He hooks his exercise bands to the tennis net and pulls them with full force. It may look like Sharan is only pulling a rope. But in reality, he is working his forearms, biceps, back and waist in this simple exercise. And he does a couple of sets of these every morning. Sharan ensures that he works on every muscle in every part of his body. His warm-ups also incorporate a lot of running routines. He sprints between the lines marked on the court and hops from one end to the other. He has the main court at Delhi’s RK Khanna Tennis Complex all to himself, so it’s no surprise that his workout lasts almost an hour. When training, Sharan uses props like a Swiss ball, cables, thera-tube exercise bands and even TRX bands. He also gets creative with DIVIJ SHARAN everyday objects lying With a career high of 94 around the court. “I use in World Doubles, he targets like cones or tennis played Andy Murray in balls placed one after the the 2004 US Open other. Also, the lines on the Juniors. His take on fitcourt and platforms near ness: “One can develop the courts feature in my skill, but fitness builds over time. If I don’t play drills,” he says. By looking at his lean tennis for three weeks, my skill will still be frame, you can tell that in there, but my fitness the gym, Sharan focuses on will take a heavy blow.” functional training, not weight training. “Strength is just one aspect of fitness. My workout in the gym is not bodybuilding,” he explains. “It is very important to build your core and not just muscles. It builds many muscle groups together, so is much better.” manit.moorjani@hindustantimes.com

Photo: ANIL CHAWLA

MAY 12, 2013

Footballers and tennis players look fit without seeming bulky. They focus on strengthening their core. These sportsmen present a toned down version of their freehand workouts, just for you. So leave your hang-ups at home and head to the garden or terrace. Use plastic cones, markers and skipping ropes. Or bushes, trees, benches and bottles lying around. That’s how simple fitness really is.

You can increase your stamina, endurance and strength, and lose weight by following simple athletic routines that sports people rely on. “Every sport has its own drills that are done before playing, as warmups,” says Anand Dube, physio/trainer, Indian Davis Cup team. “These are essential in keeping the sportsperson’s body fit. They can be as beneficial for anybody else too.”

How DIVIJ SHARAN exercises every muscle and body part FOREHAND PULLS. For strong arms, back, waist and spine

1) Attach the exercise band on a hook and place rubber grips in your palms. 2) Pull slowly, taking each step further as you

build in power. 3) Swivel your waist, keep the back straight and feet stable. 4) Gradually relax your arms. Make sure there

are no sudden jerks. It can damage your spine. Repetitions: Do 10 on either sides. Rest for two minutes and then do another round.

FULL FRONTAL STRETCHES. For a strong back, triceps and waist

1 2

1) Hook the band and take a grip on each end. 2) Pull completely, exposing the chest outwards. 3) While maintaining spine balance, retreat gradually. Repetitions: Again, do 10 rounds and rest for two minutes, then go for another 10.

ALTERNATE LEG HOPS. For strong calves, leg balance and quick leg movement 1) Start with your right leg. Hop forward from one side of the lines to the other. 2) As you land on your left leg, immediately hop forward again to the other side. 3) Keep doing this continuously, then jog back to the start and do it again. Repetitions: Do five rounds and rest for two minutes. Do another five rounds.

MORE ON THE WEB For more images of Divij Sharan and his exercises, log on to hindustantimes.com/brunch

Illustrations by: PRASHANT CHAUDHARY 3

B R U N C H D AT E

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“I never had to struggle for money”

“Aditya Chopra and I are alike. We prefer our films to speak for themselves” the elite club?

Director Dibakar Banerjee on living his dream, loving his craft and staying far from the madness of fame

What rubbish! This is what I don’t like. This categorising. What is elite about working with YRF? To everyone’s surprise, I discovered that Aditya Chopra and I are alike – we prefer our films to speak for themselves and don’t give interviews every other week. We were clear from the first meeting that I’d have creative control and they would be in charge of marketing the films.

by Parul Khanna

Photo: JASJEET PLAHA

Did you struggle in your early days?

NURAG KASHYAP has called him “the best director today”. His films Khosla Ka Ghosla! and Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! won National Awards. And with Bombay Talkies (the first movie in India to be sold on the star power of four directors), Dibakar once again impressed critics and audiences with his evocative stortelling. And yet he’s not one for media attention – he usually hibernates till his film’s release. “I don’t want to be all over the papers,” Banerjee says. In person, the filmmaker is much the same, very down to earth. In Delhi, over tea and a long chat, Brunch finds that he’s perfectly

Are you one of those people who run away to the woods to write?

No. I grew up in a family of six. One room was my parents’, one was the drawing room, and in the third, I lived with my grandmother, a TV, the dining table, my sister, and a cupboard full of books. So I can keep doing my ‘shit’, as long as the weather is good!

The industry is celebrating outsiders…

Yes. People from film families and those from the outside coexist now. The reason someone like Dibakar or Anurag survives is the same as Zoya or Karan – their films. People watch This six-hour saga is one of Banerjee’s favourites

This has one of the best onscreen kisses ever

Dibakar enjoys this New York gangster drama

happy flying under the radar.

This movie is an adaptation of Macbeth

You mentioned you don’t want to earn money from Bombay Talkies…

Each director was given R1.5 crore, that makes a total of six. In fact, Karan Johar joked, “I am wearing half of the budget of my film.” And another six was spent on marketing it. By Hindi film standards, that is very cheap. But the movie was not made to get into the R100-crore club.

You signed a three-film contract with Yash Raj. Is that a rite of passage into

What would make you go to the cinema?

Salaam Bombay! was directed by Mira Nair

MAY 12, 2013

the films because of the films, not because of the name. Honestly, they have to prove themselves more than us. People are not easy on these guys.

A good trailer! I would go and watch Gangs of Wasseypur (2012), because it shows me another world. I would see a Gangs Of New York (2002), Salaam Bombay! (1988), Bandit Queen (1994), Maqbool (2004), and even a Band Baaja Baraat (2010). Anushka portrays one of the best onscreen kisses ever. She kisses the hero to realise she loves him.

No (laughs). I never slept on the sadak. When I was working in advertising in Delhi, it was at its peak. I was this hotshot ad guy who was making a lot of money. Even after I shifted to Mumbai, my wife was initially supporting us and we were good. So while Anurag was struggling to make ends meet, I was living in a posh flat. And I have never worked under anyone or struggled for money since I was 26.

So making your first movie, Khosla Ka Ghosla!, was a cakewalk?

The struggle started when I moved to Mumbai in 2004. Every distributor saw the film and no one wanted it. After waiting for two years, I had become very negative and was going to give up when a friend asked me to stop expecting things to happen. And just when I did that, UTV Motion Pictures bought the movie.

Your filmmaking is influenced by…

My first influence is my family. We would read, listen to the radio, put up plays during Durga Puja in Delhi. Doordarshan is another influence; it gave me a chance to see regional and world cinema. I would also visit all the film festivals in Delhi. My nonBengali friends, travels across the city, my life in Delhi have been a huge influences too. Mumbai, where I live now, has had an impact on me. My days at National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad opened up an unknown western world. And my wife has been the most deepest influence. parul.khanna@hindustantimes.com

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VA R I E T Y

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Graffiti and street art have arrived. They’re here, on our walls, made by people who want to lodge a protest, make a point or just express themselves by Manit Moorjani

F YOU HAVE to pick someone up from Delhi airport, and you start from Lajpat Nagar or Malviya Nagar, you will get to see nearly one-sixth of the city’s graffiti as you drive. And if you haven’t seen it already, it’s high time you did. Graffiti artists started spamming our city walls more than five years ago, and today, you can’t miss their creative outbursts. Although provocative graffiti is often removed, it always seems to come back. One never knows when a morning drive to work could spring a surprise along the way – you may see fresh graffiti, sprayed just the night before. By now, our underground ‘public’ artists have already evolved into two separate sects – the graffiti artist and the street artist.

NOT QUITE THE SAME

Graffiti is a form of lettering. A graffiti artist spray paints his name or a symbol on a wall in the form of a stylised signature (which is often very colourful). In true graffiti spirit, especially in the Western sense of the term, this signifies ‘possession’ of the particular wall. However, in Indian cities, most artists are doing it to rid dirty Fuelling thought Daku spray painted these rocket-shaped cylinders after the LPG price hike

walls of the eyesore that are paan stains! As Sun1, a popular artist from Mumbai, puts it, “India is full of colour, and what better way to showcase it than on the walls?” He uses a variety of fonts, characters and colours to beautify walls. “Now people even stand and watch me do it. They are always curious as to what colour I will use next and how.” Street art, on the other hand, is any type of visual art created outdoors – whether it’s a spray-painted mural, stencil art, sticker art or even street poster art. It’s more than lettering. It represents an idea – a picture or a set of words. Whether it is the ‘There goes Mumbai nightlife’ stencil job in Versova by an artist who goes by the name of Tyler, or the signature ‘Daku’ emblazoned in Devnagari on a colourful wall in Okhla, in south Delhi, the impact is unmistakable. “Most graffiti artists want their name etched in the popular psyche. The charm of street art is when it is discovered in the morning – when bystanders wonder who’s done it,” says Daku, who first began doing graffiti in the Devnagari script. These days Daku, who prefers to

Among Th e Ruins Ha rsh Raman pa inted this Ga as part of a larger m nesha ural at Agrasen K i Baoli

ularity of New York’s hip-hop culture, when gangs marked their territory with the use this assumed name, displays his spray can. That was also when it wacky street art on the roadside became a tool of protest in London too: stickers are stuck over ‘Stop’ and Berlin, around the time of the road signs saying ‘Stop Pretending’, aerosol boom. Today, graffiti has ‘Stop Promising’ and ‘Stop become almost beautiful (even Shopping’. And then there is his though it’s still illegal in most parts celebrated LPG price hike piece of the world). It has become a medishowing an LPG cylinder shooting um for artistic expression without upwards in the form of a rocket. restriction. However, both these guilds – the “My graffiti does not come out of graffiti and street artists – could be any rebellion. For working with or without legal sancme it’s all about my tion. They might take permission own unique style of from owners or authoriwriting, which is difties to paint walls ferent from how (although most graffiti another graffiti artist artists seldom do), or does it,” says Zine, one they might go out of Delhi’s most active hooded in the graffiti artists, who Look at me night with has seen the scene These eyes spray cans, grow from 2006, peek out from wait for an when there were under the Lajopportune just a few playpat Nagar metro station moment, do ers, to the presthe deed and ent when even Photo: ZABEEH AFAQUE silently walk away. But school kids are both create art that reaches out to involved. “In my people, and in most cases has an graffiti, every letter that is painted is underlying message. a letter that I have made. It’s about my own individuality. Graffiti is a LET US SPRAY form of calligraphy, but it is different The heyday of graffiti was in the in a way that it is much bigger than early 1980s, coinciding with the popcalligraphy. It is an art form that is out there on the streets. Many of the young kids who come for our graffiti Tracking Colour Graffiti done by workshops have their own styles. many artists, including Zine, on The idea is to have fun and not take tracks en route to Nizamuddin it too seriously,” he adds. railway station Most practitioners view graffiti and street art as a vibrant art form that livens up the landscape of our concrete jungles. But there are many others for whom it is a way to speak out. Mumbai’s Tyler, for instance, has made some of the most popular and revolutionary street art

in the city, and believes that the spray can is the biggest weapon available to the common man. “People have stopped caring for each other. There is garbage on the streets and ugly political hoardings and advertisements everywhere. We need to wake up society with art or with words,” he says. “When I go out at night and spray what I think about the system, for those moments, I have beaten the system. With graffiti, there is no message. The medium itself is the message.” Tyler’s ‘Never forget the world is yours’ work (with the postscript ‘*Terms and Conditions apply’) in Mumbai won him worldwide acclaim. In the two years since he began working, he has clocked almost three artworks a month.

public,” says Raman, who was also the assistant art director in Prakash Jha’s films, Aarakshan and Chakravyuh.

ALMOST LEGAL

The majority of graffiti artists start young. Delhi’s Zine, while still in school, was inspired by the graffiti on the walls outside his school in Vasant Vihar. “Those walls spoke to me. While going to school, we’d suddenly find new artwork on the walls, and that felt amazing. And once I had done it myself, I had to do it again and again,” he says. Delhi-based teenager Slik, too, began by spray painting his alias at the Khan Market parking lot late at night. But he always made sure he was back at home in time for school. “My city is full of spit stains on the walls and I want to cover them with colourful artwork, without hurting other people’s sentiments. Of HUE AND CRY course, I do this on a student’s pocket For Delhi-based street artist Harsh money,” he says. Raman, painting With the growon the city’s ing popularity of walls is a tickstreet art in et to showcasour meting his art to ros, the masses, acceptwho don’t ance is have time to also growvisit an art ing. So gallery. “The artists beauty of street art is that once Local Appeal Spray paint- such as Zine I’ve finished my painting, it’s out are abandonthere and does not belong to me. ing in the Devanagari script was Daku’s idea ing their You can’t buy it either. But you secret identities can check it out anytime,” says to produce even more elaborate and Raman, whose stunning artwork of intricate designs. Zine recently a Bharatanatyam dancer cosmetisought permission from the cally transforming into a samba Panchsheel Park taxi stand to paint dancer on the outside walls of Hauz their wall with his name – after Khas Apartments, done in tandem showing them his earlier work. with Brazilian street artist Sergio Shedding their apprehensions, the Cordeiro, is one of the city’s highcabbies gave their assent and he lights. painted the mural in front of them. “Before I started painting on the It is now one of the coolest-looking Hauz Khas Apartments wall, all I cab stands in Delhi. “Painting at could see around me were banners night gives you an adrenaline high. and advertisements – people selling It’s for the kicks. But apart from the things. But all I wanted to see was artists, everybody else now also something interesting that could seems to like street art and graffiti,” bring a smile to my face. The only says Zine. purpose of drawing art on the manit.moorjani@hindustantimes.com streets is this engagement with the Mumbai Mirror Tyler’s ‘Never Forget The World Is Yours’ won him global recognition

MAY 12, 2013